The Range: The Tucson Weekly's Daily Dispatch

Air War Update: Paton Up With New Ad Today. Plus, New Fundraising Numbers

Republican Jonathan Paton has a new ad in the Congressional District 8 primary. We couldn't find an embed code, so you'll have to click here to watch it, but it features his former Sunday school teacher and other friends talking about him and concludes with fellow CD8 candidate Brian Miller, who dropped out of the race yesterday, endorsing him.

We've heard Paton is spending about $15K on the TV buy that's scheduled to run through Wednesday, Aug. 18.

Paton has also filed a new report with the FEC with shows that he collected $46,405 between the end of July 1 and Aug. 4. During the same time, he spent $146,123. He had $186,857 on hand as of Aug. 4, but a big chunk of that will have to be saved for the general, if Paton gets that far.

"We did well and we continue to raise money and have support and we're proud of our numbers and where we are," says Daniel Scarpinato, spokesman for the Paton campaign.

Paton's chief rival in the GOP primary, Jesse Kelly, currently has an ad up that's scheduled to run through this Saturday, Aug. 13.

With early voting already underway in the Aug. 24 primary and Election Day less than two weeks away, both candidates are locked in a tight struggle for every undecided voter out there. Expect more TV ads if they can afford them—and word has it that Paton's patrons, including auto dealer Jim Click, are beating the bushes for more contributions.

"We hope all our our supporters are out doing all that they can do to help us defeat Gabrielle Giffords," Scarpinato says.